For about the first ten years of my writing career, I collected rejection slips like normal people collect photos from their family vacations, souvenirs of an extended stay in an alternate reality. Most of those nopes had a distinct theme: love your writing, love the rodeo action, but your characters are just too nice. Or as one editor told my agent, “She needs to rough them up.” I am embarrassed to say that I resisted for a very long time. I wanted my heroes and heroines to be smart and sensible, someone I’d like for a friend. I didn’t want to let them make dumb mistakes and bad decisions. But finally I realized that even smart people do dumb things. Life inflicts damage on pretty much everyone, and none of us is as together as we’d like the world to think. As Grace McKenna tells Hank Brookman in Mistletoe in Texas when he complains that his brother-in-law is too perfect, “Wyatt is as much of a mess as all the rest of us. He just looks better doing it.” But why are we so drawn to flawed characters? The easy answer is that the harder the battle, the more satisfying…

The holiday season triggers memories for all of us–some good, some not-so-good. If we’re lucky, the good memories far outnumber the bad. When asked to name my best holiday memory, I have a very quick response–December 24th, 1981 at 11:20 AM. That’s the day and time I gave birth to my birth daughter, Barbi. I had been in the hospital since the day after Thanksgiving, because I had a very “high risk” pregnancy. This was my third pregnancy, and my doctor called it “prime,” since the longest I had carried before was when I delivered twin girls at 26 weeks. Emily and Erin were born alive, but died within minutes. They were beautiful and perfect, but in 1980, too tiny and immature to live outside my womb. My second pregnancy ended in miscarriage at ten weeks. I had already spent two of those weeks in the hospital with clots in my legs and lungs. So this pregnancy in 1981 was, indeed, prime. Stay in the hospital from Thanksgiving until I delivered? Sure, no problem. So it was Christmastime. My husband, Dave, and I only wanted one gift, and she was growing bigger and stronger every day in my womb. Back…

‘Tis the month before Christmas, and all through the ‘Net Every creature is stirring, including our Vets; Virtual shopping and wish lists are begun with care In hopes that packages will soon be shipped there; The children want everything they see, While parents wrestle with decorations, stockings and tree; And I in my pajamas, with mocha for a treat Settle in for a long winter’s Tweet, When out in the living room there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the computer to see what was the matter. Away to the front room, I flew like a flash, Banging my toes and cursing balderdash. The kids bouncing on the sofa like our dog the collie Pointing to the television and the commercial ads and folly, Santa Claus and his elves hard at work in their shop, Creating toys and wonders from previous years at the top, With video drivers, transformers and Barbie too I knew in a moment just what to do Sliding on the iPhone I sent text messages too My husband, he laughed and called me a name It was funny and jolly and little bit beyond tame I waved to the kids and back to the computer…

Christmas is Thursday. Can you believe that? Are you ready? Is the tree decorated to perfection? The presents bought and wrapped in such a way that no one wants to unwrap the gorgeous packages, or if they do they go so slowly in an effort to save the packaging just to get crumpled in the attic later? Is the grocery shopping done, and the meal preparations begun? If the above describes you in any way then I need an invitation to spend the day at your house! My house has no tree, and the only reason I have any sort of decoration up is because I just bought some new ones, and as I unpacked them to show my husband he strung them on the credenza and china cabinet. I also have no Christmas baking happening as I’m so not a cook, and therefore there will also be no lovely smells coming from the kitchen on Christmas morning. So you may ask what have I done since I’ve so obviously done nothing? I entertained my friend Yvonne from England. We scoured the bookstores, had some great meals, and went to see ICE at the Gaylord Texan. Now she’s gone, and…

As an author of Regency Historicals, I love to imagine myself in Regency England. At this time of year that means imagining a Regency Christmas. The Regency (1810 – 1820) was the time period of the Napoleonic War, of literary greats such as Jane Austen and Lord Byron. Many familiar Christmas traditions–decorating Christmas trees, singing Silent Night, waiting for Santa Claus–did not emerge until the later Victorian times, but a Regency Christmas did have other traditions still celebrated today. Regency families decorated their houses with holly and ivy and evergreens of fir and pine. Mistletoe was hung and the tradition of a gentleman and lady kissing beneath it would have been part of a Regency Christmas. With each kiss the gentleman plucked a berry from the mistletoe. When the berries were gone, so were the kisses. Christmas was mainly a religious holiday during the Regency. Gifts were exchanged, church attended, and guests might be invited to Christmas dinner. At Christmas dinner a goose or turkey would be served. A Regency household would also serve a Christmas pudding that was made on Stir Up Sunday, the Sunday before Advent, and served on Christmas day. The pudding was a porridge of sugar,…

To me, the holidays have always meant family and friends, togetherness and good cheer, peppermint mochas and gingerbread cookies. But increasingly, the Christmas season can also mean traffic and crowded stores, stress and anxiety, heartburn and credit-card bills. Now more than ever, we’re feeling the pinch. Our wallets are lighter. Our worries are many. But our hearts are still full. And that gives me hope. At the risk of sounding like a character from a Hallmark Channel TV movie, I believe it’s possible to have a fantastic time at Christmas…even without miles of blinking LED lights, candy canes, and a huge pile of gifts under the tree. Because those things are all extras. They’re just accessories. They’re optional. You don’t really need decorations or gifts or goodies at all. A freaky idea? Not really. Because what matters right now is being with the people you care about–and all the extraneous Christmas stuff can actually be a distraction from that. Think about it. Have you ever plowed through the mall, searching for exactly the right gift for someone special, only to come home exhausted…and snap at that special someone? (Oops.) Have you ever gotten so obsessed with pulling off a Martha…